Mike D’Antoni still looking for coaching opportunities

For those wondering what Mike D’Antoni has been up to…

The former Lakers coach has been spending time with the Charlotte Hornets, watching their practices and games while giving feedback to Coach Steve Clifford, a former Lakers assistant.

D’Antoni still wants to coach, after resigning from the Lakers in April, D’Antoni said.

“I know this: He was in Charlotte for three days, and we had a great time. We talked basketball, like, two or three hours a day,” Clifford said Sunday. “He still has a real passion for coaching. I know that.”

D’Antoni, 63, will receive about half of his $4-million salary this season as part of his agreement to step down from the Lakers.

“Mike is a terrific coach, and he’s a very bright man. But he also, I think, he handles things very well,” Clifford said before the Hornets played the Lakers at Staples Center. “He has a perspective about the way he lives his life that allowed him to deal with things well here.”

D’Antoni went 67-87 in almost two full seasons with the Lakers. They were not sharp defensively in 2013-14, finishing 29th out of 30 teams after allowing 109.2 points a game.

D’Antoni resigned because the Lakers refused to pick up his option for the 2015-16 season at his request.

Veterans Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol disliked his small-ball approach, leading to some disharmony in the locker room as the Lakers were 27-55, setting the franchise record for most losses.

Clifford was with the Lakers the previous season, when discord ran rampant. Mike Brown was fired five games into the season, Bryant and Dwight Howard never adjusted to each other, and Steve Nash couldn’t stay healthy. The Lakers were swept in the first round by San Antonio not long after Bryant went down with a torn Achilles tendon.

Clifford, in his second season as Charlotte’s coach, called it one of the best learning experiences he ever had.

“I loved my year here,” he said. “I know by Lakers standards it wasn’t a championship year. But I do think that what people forget about that group — they always like to say how dysfunctional it was, and it was definitely an interesting year — once we were healthy, we were 28-12 to finish the year, which I believe was the fifth-best record in the league. If those guys all don’t go down at the end of the year, I can guarantee you nobody wanted to play us in the playoffs.”

Etc.

Reserve forward Ryan Kelly sat out Sunday’s game after aggravating a hamstring injury last Tuesday against Phoenix. He will travel with the team for a two-game trip to Memphis and New Orleans.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan